


One v.s Destiny

by orphan_account



Category: The Half of It (2020)
Genre: "Isn't this sacrileges?", Because the movie is deep, But like deep, F/F, I kind of combines lore? Just a tiny bit!, Sartre's No Exit is discussed, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, and the charcters are deep, this is all make believe, yes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25717810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It must be weird, that every stranger that says ‘hi’ or ‘good morning’ could be your soulmate. What if your soulmate passed you by and you are stuck feeling incomplete for the rest of your life? Or if you can’t miss what you’ve never had, what if all you feel is a barely repressed longing to feel whole?Perhaps I am lucky. I know exactly who my soulmate is.
Relationships: Ellie Chu/Aster Flores
Kudos: 152





	One v.s Destiny

It starts with a legend. There are many variations, but the one I grew up hearing was one that still impacts my view of life today.

Long ago at the dawn of creation, God created Adam from the Earth and let him live in paradise. But paradise became lonely and he grew sad. God then created Adam’s soulmate, Eve, from his rib bone to keep him company. Adam and Eve were blissfully happy. They had food, animal companions, and each other. It was beautifully perfect.

However, everything perfect gets ruined eventually.

When Adam and Eve committed such a sin, God made them leave the Garden of Eden, never to return. Their descendants would also carry the weight of their forefather’s sins and he condemned them all to search their entire lives for someone to complete them. It was a punishment befitting to them giving in to their own temptation.

But the Lord was merciful and so one day, a random day, he would alert his children by writing the first words their soulmate would say to them on their own skin with ink only each individual could read. For this miracle was a private miracle, one that can’t be faked or used for trickery.

Some people go their entire lives without knowing who their soulmates are. Or even seeing the ink on their own skin. The first words someone’s soulmate says to them is tattooed somewhere on one’s body in ink that can only be seen by the person and their soulmate. It’s strange to see something that nobody else can see. Even if you looked into a mirror, it would not be there.

A few people have weird one-liners, “You’re not wearing any pants!” or “You’re my soulmate, took you long enough!” Some of them are general greetings and some are very common. Those are usually “Hello” and “Good morning”. 

Over half of the population has those marks. 

It must be weird, that every stranger that says ‘hi’ or ‘good morning’ could be your soulmate. What if your soulmate passed you by and you are stuck feeling incomplete for the rest of your life? Or if you can’t miss what you’ve never had, what if all you feel is a barely repressed longing to feel whole?

Perhaps I am lucky. I know exactly who my soulmate is.

It probably appeared on a random day. I wasn’t even sure when exactly it happened, not like I was actively paying attention anyways. Honestly, I only noticed it when I took off my shirt to swim in a hot spring that I found in the neck of the woods.

The words weren’t cryptic, weren't confusing, weren’t abnormal by any means… It was as blunt as they could get and I would be a fool to not make a leap of faith. I would be a fool to not meet my soulmate, especially now that I had the confirmation that they were my soulmate. A total fool, you might think. And you’re not wrong.

Socrates once said, “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”

So maybe I am a fool. Maybe I'm just stubborn, or confused. 

The words my soulmate would say to me were:  _ I’m Ellie Chu. _

Logically that meant my soulmate was Ellie Chu. And that was great, because I already knew Ellie Chu. At least, I knew of her. She ran an underground essay writing business that many of my friends benefitted from. She’s intelligent and Asian. 

It shouldn’t surprise you, but she was also… a girl.

And God forbid it.

I know I’m unlucky. Because I know just  _ who _ Ellie Chu is.

It wasn’t that hard.

I’ve already given up on so many things, what’s one more? I craved to become one with the crowd and I sacrificed my origins to rise to the peak of popularity. Trig was my boyfriend and I am the undisputed Queen of highschool. I stopped painting because I could never bring myself to get anything done. To be honest, I barely even noticed it.

At first, I would just paint whatever came to mind, let my hands dictate the brushes of ink and paint across a sheet of paper. I felt an enormous sense of pride in my work, showing them off to my friends and family. Everyone was nice. They would say it was pretty, cool, and sometimes even beautiful. But you could tell they didn’t really like it, or should I say, they didn’t like me painting. That’s when I started going slower. It was a slow-build, I convinced myself. Starting small and getting larger as you go. Getting  _ bolder.  _

I never got bold enough to finish any painting. Some I didn’t even bother to try, even if art was my calling. I could do without it, so I did. It’s what made everyone around me happier. They didn’t see why I had painted. 

I gave up on love, surrendering myself to the life everybody else paved for me to live. It was easy. It was right. At least I’d be satisfied if I played along.

Ignoring her was easy. 

She minded her own business, aloof and alone in her own world. A world of her own, the master of her universe. I wondered what was going on in that mind of hers. Even when degrading remarks were thrown her way, she let their hate phase through her. Perhaps it was because she was above petty remarks and childish name-calling. She was mentally strong. (Though riding her bike everywhere certainly did wonders for her physical physique.) Brushing off other people’s opinions came so easy to her. 

I was envious of that particular quirk. How could I be so dependent on what other people think of me? How could she not care? Why did she not care? Was it because she thought she was better than us? Like she was above us?

Just from looking at her, she was different.

Incredibly smart. Incredibly ambitious, with the drive to achieve what she wants. Just from  _ looking _ at her, she was destined for something greater than Squahamish could ever dream of. She was going to get out of Squahamish. She was going to become something bigger than life. Just from  _ looking _ at her, she was going to succeed in the impossible. She was going to leave this place.

I didn’t even have to talk to her. We didn’t have any classes together other than chorus/band. I even made sure to sit on the other side of the room, putting as much physical distance between us. Like the yards between us could erase whatever destined ribbon that tied us together.

She didn’t talk to me. 

(There’s a dull thump of pain in my chest whenever I think about it, so I opt to not think about it at all. Maybe Ellie chu didn’t know it was me. They do say: “Ignorance is bliss” - Thomas Gray)

There was literally no reason for her to talk to me. We were in different worlds. She was not really part of the social hierarchy. Even if she was, she was just the smart girl. The smart girl that could write you a fabulous essay. For a price, that is. She was a social outcast. I was the pretty girl.

Maybe that’s conceited of me to think that, but it’s an opinion that has become a truth and an unerasable label.

Instead of talking to her and getting to know her, I settled for glances of her plaid shirt in the hallways. Since talking wasn’t an option, I started looking from afar. Ellie Chu was an enigma I could not bring myself to stop thinking about. It was also something I tried not to think about. And trying not to think about Ellie Chu just got me to spend an absurd amount of time thinking about not thinking about Ellie Chu.

Sometimes I would notice her lurking in the corner of my eye, only to turn around and see her disappear among the crowds of people. It was like looking at a ghost, or what she’d imagine seeing a ghost would be like. Ellie Chu was not oblivious with the present word, she was just not a part of it. And like ghosts, Ellie Chu haunted me even unknowingly.

But I made no effort to get to know her, knowing that I would ultimately fall in love with her as easy as breathing. It was daunting, to know the future you are too scared to play along with. Is this what Lauis felt when given the ultimatum that his son, Oedipus would kill him? Is it this fear of the certain that drove him to toss his son away?

Will I escape my fate? I watched Ellie Chu march her way across the hallway like the strong gusts of wind, spiraling through the hallway with a daring feel of freedom. She was not confined by what anyone thought of her, because no one knew her. I could only glance at her retreating figure before turning to partake in the gossip mill. A dull task compared to the breath of fresh air that was Ellie Chu.

The question comes again as I sit in class as we discuss the events that occurred in Sartre’s ‘No Exit’. To put it simply for those who never bothered to read it, it’s an experiment of some sort with the whole notion of existing. There are three souls condemned to hell, but once they’re there, it’s simply a room with the three of them. They torture each other, leading to one of them driving the door open, but no one goes out. All three souls are dependent on what others think of them. One can not leave until the other thinks he is brave. Another thinks of herself as what other people see her as…

I could relate to it. Was living this life suffering? Was this my own personal Hell? Or is this just a test from God? The Lord gave me everything I could’ve wanted, as long as I don’t take a bite out of the forbidden fruit. Yet I still want what I can’t have. 

Could I give everything away for Ellie Chu?

No. (But what I wouldn’t give to find out. To find someone that will complete me.)

I don’t know Ellie Chu. (But I could, at the cost of my ‘perfect’ life)

She’s just a stranger. (That will eventually be everything to me.)

I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. And I have to take a risk-or maybe it’s not a risk. Maybe she’ll say something generic. Maybe it’s all a misunderstanding. It depends on what Ellie Chu says to me.

Maybe she’ll just be a good friend,

(But it feels as if Ellie Chu is something more.)

I was looking at her for a whole 5 minutes as she twisted and turned in the hallway, phone pressed to her ear by her shoulder. It was not a logical decision for me to look at her. It wasn’t a conscious decision to follow and go the same way she was.

Ellie bumped into someone and spilled her things on the floor and like a woman possessed, I swooped down to help her pick them up. I definitely didn’t make the logical decision to bend down and hand her back her stuff.

But it was a conscious decision when I looked her in the eye and told her;

“These hallways are murder.”

At that moment it felt like we were the only people in the world that existed. Right then and there, I knew the words she would say before she said it. My heart wrecked itself, thumping around against my ribcage. It’s loud hits thudding in my ears. But as much as it destroyed me to face the fear, it also liberated me. 

Like an assignment I procrastinated on, it was so relieving to find that the thing I’ve been dreading this whole time, be nothing hard at all.

She stared at me like I’d written the rules of the universe-like I was some sort of Goddess. My heart fluttered happily at that thought, everything that troubled me had retreated into the dark corners of my mind.

I waited with a charming smile as she spoke those words that had struck my heart with unparalleled fear and excitement.

“I’m Ellie Chu.”

“I know.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Sorry to writing fanfic of the Bible as well I guess.  
> Not Sorry about writing a 'The Half of It' fanfic.
> 
> If I offended you, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you.  
> It was supposed to be just one Soulmate AU fic.
> 
> This is also kind of bold. Religion is hard to write, you always end up offending somebody else's views. But you don't get anywhere without ever making enemies and gaining haters.
> 
> Please be respectful and mind that I am entitled to my own mind.


End file.
